Saturday, August 14, 2010

Random thoughts brought on by caffeine

- I can't believe in my post a short while back detailing the return to form of one (I Hate) Shane Miller I forgot to neglect the one person truly responsible for his comeback. That person being his better and prettier half, Nurse Von. She's not really a nurse I am afraid but she manages to take care of the big injured baby aka GPlama whilst he is incapacitated and still bring home MASSIVE bags of 'off run' crunchy bars from consulting jobs at Cadbury just so Shane and I can sit in front of them while watching Tour of California on the Tele and see who can go the deepest into hypoglycaemia without eating any. The mental battle is intense. Then we part ways and devour 3 kilo of said crunchy bars in secrecy. Mmmm clement chocolate. Is there anything better?

-Similarly whenever I find myself bedridden its thanks to my very own private nurse (aka mum) that I survive. I am indeed lucky.

-I am also coming to the very real and terrifying conclusion that I am exactly like my father. I guess everyone has this horrifying discovery sometime around the post teen years. It really is the stuff of nightmares. Why am I exactly like my old man?

Well, he loves routine, and I love a good routine. Each day runs to a schedule, which must be abided by. Each week runs to a schedule. Today is saturday. Saturday is market day. Ooooo the joy of fresh fruit and vegetables makes me as giddy as a school girl. Fresh prosciutto? Well, that's the one thing my dad buys every week from the market. Every time he comes home with it I just roll my eyes..
"Prosciutto agaaaaiiiiin? Dad you're just sooooooo predictable"

But what do I find myself craving and hence purchasing, with the predictability of of a feel good Hugh Grant movie? You got it. The cured, salted, hung and dried quarter of a pig. Love it. Adore it. Whack it in a sandwich.

- Also I have just noticed that beach road has a new road safety crusader, introducing Pete Dowe
So this guy is a bayside resident fiercely opposed to the clearway trials that are being proposed in certain councils and approved in others. It is sad that you can have someone calling themselves a 'Road Safety Advocate' who is obviously biased against those two wheeled pests invading his beach haven. Now I'll freely admit, I'm heavily biased towards the cycling point of view. No Shit. So this modern day saint is getting on his high horse and spending his weekend mornings filming bunches on beach road. Capturing the anarchy on camera for the world see. Oh the atrocities! Oh the humanity! When will the injustice end?

This is the stuff I find laughable, see this description of one of his videos'Difficulty stopping! Crossing lights are red for 15 seconds before a cyclist urgently yells "lights" to the rear of the large pack, yet the bunch still enters the Mentone Lifesaving Club crossing on red, where elderly Mentone pedestrian James Gould was struck and killed by a Hell Rider in a large, racing cyclist bunch on Sat. 26/8/06 @ 8.30AM'
Now watch the video here
Could he be any more incorrect? He has just proved how a large bunch of cyclists can safely ride the roads with proper communication, ie calling out 'lights'.

The thing is, there is plenty of dodgy bunch riding on beach road. But Pete, if you're going to get up before 6am in the middle of winter, at least get something worthy of the hysteria you are trying to whip up!

Here is another video. All I can see is some nice cycling tips and TFM kit and a bunch of cyclists having fun, but I guess I am biased...

It is seems a little ironic that in many of his videos he shows cars stuck behind large bunches or smaller groups overtaking other small groups. He highlights this behaviour as a reason for NOT enacting a clearway. Now, the clearway would help with the 'driver frustration' as it would be it easier for bunches to overtake and stay left, that seems pretty obvious. What is also obvious, however, is that on Pete's behalf, there should be no concession to the cyclists who are making life so horrible down by the bay. No, road safety is not being advocated here, it is mere petty 'not in my backward' pig headed stupidity.

2 comments:

Bet if you ask him to name any other of the 100s of pedestrians killed by cars in the 4 years since the incident with James Gould he couldnt. He needs to learn some risk assessment and focus where the real risks are. Drunken, speeding suspended drivers behind the wheel.

I can see how you could be led to believe that Pete Dowe, Road Safety Advocate, is an upper middle class professional from Mentone with a commonly held dislike for cyclists, but he is actually a poor unfortunate soul who lives in a flat (not on Beach Rd.), and who has a paranoid psychosis, in this case, against cyclists. He neither drives or cycles, and clearly has no idea about the dynamics of traffic, or the dangers cyclists face on a daily basis due to the erratic and unpredictable behaviour of some motorists. He is just another misguided person who has put cycling in his sights.